Oh, look Bolas is getting his spark stripped away and survives...
I call plothole on that.
Eh, I can see them eventually explaining this as “After the mending happened and stole planeswalkers of most of their god-like powers, Bolas cast some spells on himself to keep himself alive if his spark were to be lost entirely” or something like that.
If Bolas is without a spark what's the need of Ugin to keep company of Bolas of all eternity as a jailer? He can't planeswalk anyway anymore (and also unable to use any sort of magic too apparently). And also why is Ugin trapped forever with Bolas in the realm if he is still a planeswalker?
I was confused as to why Bolas being mostly depowered wasn't taken as an opportunity to just kill him. You would think that someone other than Gideon would actually try that when he's most vulnerable.
Then I realized that keeping him tucked away gives WOTC an easy excuse to re-use the character later. Feels cheap tbh. I hope I'm wrong and that this really is treated as a final act in Bolas's story and they don't bring him back.
On the flip side, if Bolas and Ugin are both trapped forever, that means they never did much with Ugin. Sigh.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Pop in, find a dragon, roast a dragon."
-Chandra Nalaar
They already brought Bolas back once, and that was after a complete story and character arc for the heroes involved. Don't bet on Bolas staying away forever.
Also, how was Bolas going to power up his Elderspell with only three casualties? Or is the story full of dead Sirs and Madams Not Appearing On Cards?
Then I realized that keeping him tucked away gives WOTC an easy excuse to re-use the character later. Feels cheap tbh. I hope I'm wrong and that this really is treated as a final act in Bolas's story and they don't bring him back.
Return to Return to Return to Ravnica; The Rebirth of Nicol Bolas, The Reborn (The fifth, and ACTUAL final time!).
On the flip side, if Bolas and Ugin are both trapped forever, that means they never did much with Ugin. Sigh.
That's the most disappointing part of this to me also. Creative didn't really use Ugin for all that much. This also greatly reduces the chances we will get a legendary creature version of a pre-sparked Ugin, since he's effectively being removed from the plot forever.
If Bolas is without a spark what's the need of Ugin to keep company of Bolas of all eternity as a jailer? He can't planeswalk anyway anymore (and also unable to use any sort of magic too apparently). And also why is Ugin trapped forever with Bolas in the realm if he is still a planeswalker?
Where is it stated that Ugin stays trapped in the Meditation Realm with Bolas?
I was confused as to why Bolas being mostly depowered wasn't taken as an opportunity to just kill him. You would think that someone other than Gideon would actually try that when he's most vulnerable.
Then I realized that keeping him tucked away gives WOTC an easy excuse to re-use the character later. Feels cheap tbh. I hope I'm wrong and that this really is treated as a final act in Bolas's story and they don't bring him back.
On the flip side, if Bolas and Ugin are both trapped forever, that means they never did much with Ugin. Sigh.
Well just to point this out let me put it this way
Bolas has died before and he gets more powerful each time
And ugin May have given a warning since he knew about this
One thing confusing to me though how did liliana know to destroy the gem in his horns (that definately happened after the despark since he’s on the ground I think he was wounded by Bontu and oketra)
Wait, where's Rhonas and Kefnet? Don't tell me they killed them off before they could do anything cool, again.
I wondered that as well. You would think Liliana would send all 4 at him. I guess they are destroyed by this point in the story. I also wonder what the Boar god is doing during all this? There have been no story indications as to what side it even fought on.
That's the most disappointing part of this to me also. Creative didn't really use Ugin for all that much. This also greatly reduces the chances we will get a legendary creature version of a pre-sparked Ugin, since he's effectively being removed from the plot forever.
Yeah this would be disappointing but I'm hoping they still give him a card. It seems like a waste after all the build up in the M19 story. Maybe in a supplemental set or in a Commander precon.
Then I realized that keeping him tucked away gives WOTC an easy excuse to re-use the character later. Feels cheap tbh. I hope I'm wrong and that this really is treated as a final act in Bolas's story and they don't bring him back.
Return to Return to Return to Ravnica; The Rebirth of Nicol Bolas, The Reborn (The fifth, and ACTUAL final time!).
On the flip side, if Bolas and Ugin are both trapped forever, that means they never did much with Ugin. Sigh.
That's the most disappointing part of this to me also. Creative didn't really use Ugin for all that much. This also greatly reduces the chances we will get a legendary creature version of a pre-sparked Ugin, since he's effectively being removed from the plot forever.
Well not exactly done with ugin I mean commander product could give us a pre spark version of him
As a matter of fact I can speculate a colorless deck for this year since this ugin reduces the cost of colorless spells by 2
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Well not exactly done with ugin I mean commander product could give us a pre spark version of him
As a matter of fact I can speculate a colorless deck for this year since this ugin reduces the cost of colorless spells by 2
I won't disagree there. More than anything I mean if he is not in the plot going forward, a pre-spark Ugin is basically only possible in a supplemental product such as commander since they didn't put him in Core 2019. Basically, there are minimal story reasons to revisit Ugin's past now that he is probably out of the major plot in the future. Simple fact: the less we see Ugin, the less impetus is there to give him another card.
(Granted: Commander was his highest probability for him anyway, and I would primarily have interest in a non-flip card)
Good best thing IMO to happen to Bolas and it closes his story just like it had opened;
they do not notice the last egg-stone. It unfurls into not one, but two small dragons born twinned together. Not twenty paces from the clearing they hit the canopy, crashing down through branches and, with twin thumps, come to rest on the forest floor amid a welter of needles and fern.
"Ouch," says the smaller of the two. He rubs his head against the ground to wipe away a trickle of blood where the tough branches have scratched through the still-tender scales.
The other one tries to shake open his bruised wings but is trapped by branches fallen like a net over him. A broken tree trunk pins his body. "I'm stuck," he says.
"I'll help you," says the first, studying the other with a keen eye. "You're Nicol, aren't you? That's your name."
bye *****.
Wait. Is this how an actual MTG novel reads? Wow, dodged a bullet there, I guess.
It was the m19 story on the elder dragons and bolas and Ugin. Can’t say about the new novel but the last five plus the old blocks novels were nice. Godsend, agents of artifact, the ones from time spiral, lorwyn-shadowmoor are all good read. Also champions and the one from betrayers are good soo far.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Regarding my own feelings about this story, I find it completely silly for a plan that’s supposedly been developed over millennia to not have prepared for something as simple as his army being turned against him.
This plan wasn't developed over millenia, just a couple decades at most. Bolas returned from the dead 60 years ago, and then the Mending happened and stripped him of most of his previous power, brilliance, and knowledge (he still retained a lot, but not nearly what he used to have).
He set the first wheels for this plan in motion on Amonkhet in 4500 AR. It's 4560 AR now. By Bolas' standards, he's been rushing.
And even then, he nearly pulled it off.
you can say it’s poetic, but it’s also redundant. This result has literally already happened to bolas albeit a different means.
This is the first time Bolas has been imprisoned in the Meditation Realm. That he has been trapped there before is a misconception, albeit a popular one. Last time he was defeated, he was lured to the Meditation Realm by Tetsuo Umezawa during their battle, rendered mortally vulnerable, and then immediately killed.
A trace of Bolas's ghost lingered in a time rift back on Dominaria however, and it was from that time rift that the remaining shred of his essence was able to eventually regain enough consciousness to manipulate his eventual rebirth. Back then, even the faded echo of a dead planeswalker could be a powerful thing.
The Meditation Realm has played an important role in both Bolas's defeats, as well it should have, being the central axis of Bolas's dominion. But the role it played each time was fundamentally different. Last time it was a killing ground. This time it is his prison.
I get it, he tried to eliminate Liliana when he saw her turn against him (in the trailer) and Gideon intervened. But c’mon, this has to be the most simple thing to prepare for. Instead, an ancient dragon with a melennia-old plan put all his eggs in one basket and didn’t protect that basket?
In fairness, this is the same sort of evil overlord oversight that Palpatine, Voldemort, and Sauron all fell for as well. It's not unique to Bolas or anything.
This is Sauron putting all his life force into a ring that he then wears on his finger for some punk to cut it off. This is Palpatine not foreseeing that Vader might turn on him for the same reasons he joined him in the first place (preventing the death of a loved one), even moments after explicitly voicing his intent to toss Vader away and replace him. This is Voldemort wearing his last Horcrux on his shoulders, protective shield down, in his moment of triumph, making it easy for Neville to cut off the snake's head and finally render him mortal. This is Yawgmoth dragging the core of his god-essence from Phyrexia into Dominaria and making himself vulnerable before the Dominarian resistance was even totally put down.
Brilliant, powerful, genius villains make tend to make dumb, last-minute mistakes that give their enemies a final opening to exploit. You don't have to like it, but there's nothing strange about it, and it's a long-running tradition by now. Bolas was far from the first to mess up this way, and as long as fantasy arch-villains continue to populate our fiction, he definitely won't be the last.
Regarding my own feelings about this story, I find it completely silly for a plan that’s supposedly been developed over millennia to not have prepared for something as simple as his army being turned against him.
This plan wasn't developed over millenia, just a couple decades at most. Bolas returned from the dead 60 years ago, and then the Mending happened and stripped him of most of his previous power, brilliance, and knowledge (he still retained a lot, but not nearly what he used to have).
He set the first wheels for this plan in motion on Amonkhet in 4500 AR. It's 4560 AR now. By Bolas' standards, he's been rushing.
And even then, he nearly pulled it off.
you can say it’s poetic, but it’s also redundant. This result has literally already happened to bolas albeit a different means.
This is the first time Bolas has been imprisoned in the Meditation Realm. That he has been trapped there before is a misconception, albeit a popular one. Last time he was defeated, he was lured to the Meditation Realm by Tetsuo Umezawa during their battle, rendered mortally vulnerable, and then immediately killed.
A trace of Bolas's ghost lingered in a time rift back on Dominaria however, and it was from that time rift that the remaining shred of his essence was able to eventually regain enough consciousness to manipulate his eventual rebirth. Back then, even the faded echo of a dead planeswalker could be a powerful thing.
The Meditation Realm has played an important role in both Bolas's defeats, as well it should have, being the central axis of Bolas's dominion. But the role it played each time was fundamentally different. Last time it was a killing ground. This time it is his prison.
I get it, he tried to eliminate Liliana when he saw her turn against him (in the trailer) and Gideon intervened. But c’mon, this has to be the most simple thing to prepare for. Instead, an ancient dragon with a melennia-old plan put all his eggs in one basket and didn’t protect that basket?
In fairness, this is the same sort of evil overlord oversight that Palpatine, Voldemort, and Sauron all fell for as well. It's not unique to Bolas or anything.
This is Sauron putting all his life force into a ring that he then wears on his finger for some punk to cut it off. This is Palpatine not foreseeing that Vader might turn on him for the same reasons he joined him in the first place (preventing the death of a loved one), even moments after explicitly voicing his intent to toss Vader away and replace him. This is Voldemort wearing his last Horcrux on his shoulders, protective shield down, in his moment of triumph, making it easy for Neville to cut off the snake's head and finally render him mortal. This is Yawgmoth dragging the core of his god-essence from Phyrexia into Dominaria and making himself vulnerable before the Dominarian resistance was even totally put down.
Brilliant, powerful, genius villains make tend to make dumb, last-minute mistakes that give their enemies a final opening to exploit. You don't have to like it, but there's nothing strange about it, and it's a long-running tradition by now. Bolas was far from the first to mess up this way, and as long as fantasy arch-villains continue to populate our fiction, he definitely won't be the last.
I came back to this to say one thing. Your post in response to me was awesome and well done.
I love this. The Mending was probably the best thing to happen to Planeswalkers because it gave them a life. Their existence was human again, not a constant struggle for power and control.
Bolas wanted that gone out of greed. He wanted to be the big dog, so he turned himself into the worst kind of oldwalker, devastating planes without a second thought and viewing his fellow planeswalkers as little more than power pellets to be gobbled up.
And this is his reward. Instead of godhood, he becomes everything he feared to become- a powerless overgrown iguana trapped in a hellish world of his own making.
And all because two of his grandest plots were turned against him.
Eat *****, Bolas. I hope thats all they give you in Elder Dragon Jailander.
I love this. The Mending was probably the best thing to happen to Planeswalkers because it gave them a life. Their existence was human again, not a constant struggle for power and control.
Bolas wanted that gone out of greed. He wanted to be the big dog, so he turned himself into the worst kind of oldwalker, devastating planes without a second thought and viewing his fellow planeswalkers as little more than power pellets to be gobbled up.
And this is his reward. Instead of godhood, he becomes everything he feared to become- a powerless overgrown iguana trapped in a hellish world of his own making.
And all because two of his grandest plots were turned against him.
Eat *****, Bolas. I hope thats all they give you in Elder Dragon Jailander.
Karmic Justice!
Private Mod Note
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Eh, I can see them eventually explaining this as “After the mending happened and stole planeswalkers of most of their god-like powers, Bolas cast some spells on himself to keep himself alive if his spark were to be lost entirely” or something like that.
Then I realized that keeping him tucked away gives WOTC an easy excuse to re-use the character later. Feels cheap tbh. I hope I'm wrong and that this really is treated as a final act in Bolas's story and they don't bring him back.
On the flip side, if Bolas and Ugin are both trapped forever, that means they never did much with Ugin. Sigh.
-Chandra Nalaar
Also, how was Bolas going to power up his Elderspell with only three casualties? Or is the story full of dead Sirs and Madams Not Appearing On Cards?
Return to Return to Return to Ravnica; The Rebirth of Nicol Bolas, The Reborn (The fifth, and ACTUAL final time!).
That's the most disappointing part of this to me also. Creative didn't really use Ugin for all that much. This also greatly reduces the chances we will get a legendary creature version of a pre-sparked Ugin, since he's effectively being removed from the plot forever.
Is a comedy! Ha! Wizards played us all!
Where is it stated that Ugin stays trapped in the Meditation Realm with Bolas?
This is satisfying at least.
Well just to point this out let me put it this way
Bolas has died before and he gets more powerful each time
And ugin May have given a warning since he knew about this
One thing confusing to me though how did liliana know to destroy the gem in his horns (that definately happened after the despark since he’s on the ground I think he was wounded by Bontu and oketra)
I wondered that as well. You would think Liliana would send all 4 at him. I guess they are destroyed by this point in the story. I also wonder what the Boar god is doing during all this? There have been no story indications as to what side it even fought on.
Yeah this would be disappointing but I'm hoping they still give him a card. It seems like a waste after all the build up in the M19 story. Maybe in a supplemental set or in a Commander precon.
Well not exactly done with ugin I mean commander product could give us a pre spark version of him
As a matter of fact I can speculate a colorless deck for this year since this ugin reduces the cost of colorless spells by 2
sometimes it feels like Golgari gets all the love!
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
I won't disagree there. More than anything I mean if he is not in the plot going forward, a pre-spark Ugin is basically only possible in a supplemental product such as commander since they didn't put him in Core 2019. Basically, there are minimal story reasons to revisit Ugin's past now that he is probably out of the major plot in the future. Simple fact: the less we see Ugin, the less impetus is there to give him another card.
(Granted: Commander was his highest probability for him anyway, and I would primarily have interest in a non-flip card)
It was the m19 story on the elder dragons and bolas and Ugin. Can’t say about the new novel but the last five plus the old blocks novels were nice. Godsend, agents of artifact, the ones from time spiral, lorwyn-shadowmoor are all good read. Also champions and the one from betrayers are good soo far.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
Melded and compleated.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
This plan wasn't developed over millenia, just a couple decades at most. Bolas returned from the dead 60 years ago, and then the Mending happened and stripped him of most of his previous power, brilliance, and knowledge (he still retained a lot, but not nearly what he used to have).
He set the first wheels for this plan in motion on Amonkhet in 4500 AR. It's 4560 AR now. By Bolas' standards, he's been rushing.
And even then, he nearly pulled it off.
This is the first time Bolas has been imprisoned in the Meditation Realm. That he has been trapped there before is a misconception, albeit a popular one. Last time he was defeated, he was lured to the Meditation Realm by Tetsuo Umezawa during their battle, rendered mortally vulnerable, and then immediately killed.
A trace of Bolas's ghost lingered in a time rift back on Dominaria however, and it was from that time rift that the remaining shred of his essence was able to eventually regain enough consciousness to manipulate his eventual rebirth. Back then, even the faded echo of a dead planeswalker could be a powerful thing.
The Meditation Realm has played an important role in both Bolas's defeats, as well it should have, being the central axis of Bolas's dominion. But the role it played each time was fundamentally different. Last time it was a killing ground. This time it is his prison.
In fairness, this is the same sort of evil overlord oversight that Palpatine, Voldemort, and Sauron all fell for as well. It's not unique to Bolas or anything.
This is Sauron putting all his life force into a ring that he then wears on his finger for some punk to cut it off. This is Palpatine not foreseeing that Vader might turn on him for the same reasons he joined him in the first place (preventing the death of a loved one), even moments after explicitly voicing his intent to toss Vader away and replace him. This is Voldemort wearing his last Horcrux on his shoulders, protective shield down, in his moment of triumph, making it easy for Neville to cut off the snake's head and finally render him mortal. This is Yawgmoth dragging the core of his god-essence from Phyrexia into Dominaria and making himself vulnerable before the Dominarian resistance was even totally put down.
Brilliant, powerful, genius villains make tend to make dumb, last-minute mistakes that give their enemies a final opening to exploit. You don't have to like it, but there's nothing strange about it, and it's a long-running tradition by now. Bolas was far from the first to mess up this way, and as long as fantasy arch-villains continue to populate our fiction, he definitely won't be the last.
Him and liliana are the second and third person/thing in history to defeat Nicol bolas
I came back to this to say one thing. Your post in response to me was awesome and well done.
Bolas wanted that gone out of greed. He wanted to be the big dog, so he turned himself into the worst kind of oldwalker, devastating planes without a second thought and viewing his fellow planeswalkers as little more than power pellets to be gobbled up.
And this is his reward. Instead of godhood, he becomes everything he feared to become- a powerless overgrown iguana trapped in a hellish world of his own making.
And all because two of his grandest plots were turned against him.
Eat *****, Bolas. I hope thats all they give you in Elder Dragon Jailander.
Karmic Justice!